Sgrub Life of Mutual Killings
by FriendlyneighborhoodSatan
Summary: Karkat, a teenage diplomat and full-time asshole, has just been accepted to the prestigious school Hope's Peak Private Academy. Little does he know, that he and the other students are trapped there, and the only way to get out is to commit a murder, killing one of your classmates. Just his luck. All human!AU Teenage!AU rating for blood and swearing b/c Karkat.


John glanced around, trying to take in the impressive school in front of him. He smiled. This was the day. He was excited to be recognized for his supreme magic skills with the title of Super Duper High School Magician. It was about time. After all, he'd worked his ass off to attend the prestigious Hope's Peak Academy, and he was finally here. John took a deep breath, and stepped across the threshold of the school. As the automatic doors slid open for him, he felt a strange, dizzy sensation. Then everything went black.

Karkat glared apprehensively at his new school, warily eyeing the sign, which read "Hope's Peak Academy" in bold letters. It's not that Karkat wasn't excited to be at his new school, after all they had awarded him the title Super Duper High School Peacemaker for his work as a youth delegate for America. The thing is, if his time as a peace negotiator had taught him anything, it was that if a deal sounds to good to be true, it is. And this school definitely seemed too good to be true. Still, Karkat trudged towards his future, slouching and dragging his feet, but still approaching. As he reached the doors of the school, he turned around, and gave the outside world one last look. Then he stepped inside. Everything went black. 

John woke up slowly, each of his senses taking time to re-adjust to his surroundings. He lifted his head off of the desk he had been sleeping at. He scanned the room around him. A classroom. He stood up, stretching his aching back. What was going on? His first thought was he had fallen asleep in class again, and they had simply left him when the class ended. But then he remembered. He was at Hope's Peak now. Was this some kind of hazing thing? He left the classroom to go explore the rest of the school. When he peered into the classroom next to his, he realized that this had happened to the other students as well. He saw a boy with a mop of black hair rubbing his eyes; he'd clearly just woken up as well. "Hi" John said, waving at the boy. He glared back at John. "Hey. You know what the shit's going on here?" he demanded. John shrugged, looking worriedly around the room. The shorter boy rolled his eyes in disgust. "Fuck. Well we should probably do something about that. I'm Karkat by the way. Super fucking High School Peacemaker." the boy said. John smiled for the first time since arriving. "Nice to meet you Karkat. I'm John, John Egbert. Super High School Magician." he introduced. Karkat nodded begrudgingly. The boys then walked out of the classroom, and down the dark, narrow hallways of Hope's Peak.

Eventually, the boys found their way to the gymnasium. To their confusion, all the other students were already there, and apparently waiting for John and Karkat to get started with introductions. A small, overly excited looking Asian girl herded them into a circle. "I'll introduce myself first." the girl announced, facing the rest of the students. "I'm Nepeta! Super Duper High School Matchmaker! I used to have my own show, it was like The Bachelor, but I decided I wanted to go to school like a regular kid." she said, bouncing in her seat slightly. Karkat rolled his eyes. The next person to go was a stylish looking girl, with her textured hair in a pixie-cut, which perfectly framed her dark face. "Hello. I am Kanaya, the Super Duper High School Seamstress." she announced. She seemed like the type of person that everyone respected, nice, but with a bold personality and a temper. Everyone waved at her, or nodded politely. Then, everyone's eyes slid to the person on Kanaya's left. She looked; well, to put it bluntly, crazy. Her hair was neck-length and bright orange, clashing violently with her pointy, blood red sunglasses. She wore the giant grin of a drug addict or a serial killer.

"Oh, is it my turn?" she asked. When no one answered, she began to talk. "Hey guys. I'm Terezi, Super High School Attorney! I'm blind, but don't think you can get away with any funny business, I can smell trickery from a mile away!" she said. Everyone's eyes grew slightly wider, a bit shocked by this loud girl. She really was crazy! The girl on Terezi's left stood up, flipping her kinky brown hair. It took a few seconds for them to realize that the girl's arm was fake, make of shiny metal plating. The girl cleared her throat. "I'm Vriska. Super Duper High School Gambler. I lost my arm and one of my eyes in a casino fight when I was eight, therefor making me more badass than you could ever hope to be. You're just lucky to be around me!" the girl said. Karkat noticed Terezi's expression had shifted to a murderous glare. Then again, so had everyone else's. This girl-Vriska, was rubbing everyone the wrong way.

She sat back down. The next person to go was a tall, well muscled. "Hello. I am Equius. Super Duper High School Mechanic." he said, waving one of his large hands. This guy seemed a little weird. Then again, so did everyone else here. The guy next to Equius stood up, a slow, sleepy smile on his face, which was painted with white clown makeup. "Heya Motherfuckers. Name's Gamzee. Super Motherfuckin' High School Dealer. I can get you your fix of almost anything you want, all long as you got the dough to back it up. Nice to meet y'all." he said. Everyone stared in shock as the meaning of his words sunk in. What the hell was this school? A drug dealer, as a student? Gamzee seemed unaware of his classmate's doubts; he was humming and swaying to inaudible music, perfectly content. The boy on Gamzee's left rolled his eyes in disgust. He was a ginger kid, slightly on the shorter side, with a shocking streak of purple in his hair. "Well, thanks for that, clown rubbish. I'm Eridan, Super High School Marksman. I could shoot an apple off your 'ead from a hundred meters away, no problem. I'm kind of a big deal back in Scotland. My dad's a navy captain." He bragged in an obvious Scottish accent. With a flourish of his purple cape, the kid sat back down, looking aloof. The girl on his side stood up, her caramel-colored waist-length hair flowing behind her. She adjusted her round pink glasses, and gave them all a big smile. "Hey guys! I'm Feferi, most people call me Fef. I'm a Super Duper High School Swimmer! I'm also pretty good at baking, my mom owns Betty Crocker, but that's not really that important. It's great to meet you all." she said. Eridan, and one of the other boys both stared at her unabashedly, in awe. Feferi sat down, ankles crossed. John was next. "Hi, I'm John. Super High School Level Magician." he said, a bit nervously. The girl next to him gave a small smile, and pushed her headband back in her light blonde hair. "Hello. My name is Rose Lalonde. My talent lies in writing occult horror stories, so I suppose one could call me Super High School Horror Novelist." she said. Kanaya looked pleased to see someone of her level of sophistication. She waved at Rose, who looked down and blushed slightly. "And suddenly, lesbians." said the guy to Rose's left. She whipped around, glaring daggers at him. "God Dammit Dave, why can't you act like a mature person for _once_ in your life?" she asked, looking exasperated. The guy, apparently named Dave, shrugged nonchalantly. "Whatevs. If you couldn't tell, Edgar Allen Poe over there is my sister." he said jerking his thumb at Rose, who rolled her eyes. "Dave's my name, Rapping's my game, so step aside losers 'cause it's time to play. Jade's my bro (he pointed at the girl next to him), my sis is Rose, and why I'm so fuckin' awesome, well, no one knows." He said. The group looked fairly impressed at his rhymes. The girl next to him laughed. "Yeah, yeah nice rhymes 'bro'. I'm Jade, Super Duper High School Botanist. Dave and Rose have been friends of mine since middle school, but I'm looking forward to getting to know the rest of you." she said, smiling.

Next, it was Karkat's turn. "Hey shitstains. I'm Karkat. Super fucking High School Peacemaker. And before you nook suckers ask, I curse so much because fuck you." he said, glaring straight ahead. Terezi giggled. Dave snorted skeptically. The girl to Karkat's left stood up, with a vacant expression on her face. She looked to be of Indian descent, but her skin was pale and washed out. "Hello. My name is Aradia, Super High School Medium. That means I contact the dead. Pleasure to meet you all." she said. Her voice had a hollow, flat quality to it, making her sound slightly terrifying. The boy beside her started trembling. "H-hi. I'm Tavros. S-super High School Animal T-trainer." he said, glancing nervously around to the other kids. Vriska winked at him, causing him to shrink back in his wheelchair, eyes wide with fear. Karkat sent the Gambler a glare, as if to say _don't you fucking dare. _The lanky Asian boy next to Tavros rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm Sollux. Super High School Hacker, at your service." he said, a prominent lisp in his voice. A few kids snickered at this, but a glare shut them all up. Then, they heard an odd, laughing sort of sound."Bububububu!"

They all whipped around, to see (on not see) the weirdest sight they've experienced in their young lives. A puppet, marionette like in appearance was standing on the podium, round blue plastic eyes staring into their souls. "What the hell!?" Karkat yelled, jumping up to his feet. "A puppet? A fucking puppet!?" he demanded, glaring at said puppet, whose shirt read CAL in bold letters. The puppet smiled creepily. "Well, since you bastard are done with introductions, might as well introduce myself! I'm Mono-Cal, your principle." the puppet-sorry, Mono-Cal announced.

They all stared in various degrees of rage and horror. Equius looked at it curiously, searching for some sign of electronic controls. He looked up. "Well, the nearest I can figure, it is an animatronic toy. This is gosh darned ridiculous.," he said. Mono-Cal laughed creepily, swatting Equius's hand away from him. "It doesn't matter what I am you bastards! I'm in charge! Got it?" he yelled, plush face clouded with undisguised rage. The kids all nodded, scaredly and reluctantly. "Good. Now that we've got that out of the way, I need to explain the rules of this establishment. First and foremost, you aren't allowed to leave. Ever. You bastards are trapped here!" he said.

Karkat's jaw dropped. John's eyes widened in horror and fear. However, it was Terezi that said something. "What!? Are you fucking crazy? We're the most valuable kids in the world, someone's bound to come looking for us! That's how justice _works _asshole!" she cried, practically shaking with rage. Cal laughed as if she'd said the funniest thing in the world. "Bububu! You really think that? God, this is too good! How gullible are you brats?! The police won't come! They don't give a shit about you! _That's _how the justice system works bitch." Mono-Cal said. Terezi glared daggers behind her red glasses. Before she could yell again however, Mono-Cal resumed speaking. "There is however, one way of graduating." he said, looking at each student individually, as if to warn him or her to behave. "In order to leave, you have to kill someone. It's simple. Just commit a murder, and you're free to go." he said, holding back laughter.

Shock and fear rippled through the crowd of students. Nepeta hid behind Equius, and Tavros wheeled behind Vriska, cowering in his chair. Mono-Cal shrugged, and disappeared.

The students looked around the room, wide-eyed, trying to guess each other's thoughts. Finally, Karkat spoke up. "Oh, come on! He wasn't serious! You'd have to have the IQ of a pile of shit to believe that fucking nutcase!" he yelled. Terezi's expression turned grim. "It isn't a matter of whether or not he was joking, Karkles. It's a matter of who's dumb enough to believe him." she said, focusing her sightless eyes on Vriska. The brunette rolled her good eye and walked off to the other side of the gym. "Now" said Karkat "Everyone check your phones, we need to know what day it is. Try and get a signal to call the cops." Everyone reached into his or her pockets and purses and such, only to come up completely blank. Someone, or rather some_thing_, must have stolen their phones while they were asleep.

"Motherfucker!" Vriska yelled, rolling her eyes and giving a huge, dramatic sigh. "They stole my fucking phone! I had an online poker game going, my last opponent was about to fold!" she bitched, glaring at no one. "My phone's gone to! How will I keep track of all my ships?" Nepeta worried, not bothered by the odd looks that comment earned her. Each kid searched his or her pockets, only confirming that no one had any sort of way to communicate to the outside world.

"Bubububububu!" came the shrill, menacing laugh. The kids all reluctantly turned around to face who they now knew to be Mono-Cal. "You think I'm that stupid? Of course I'm not letting you bastards have your phones! Instead, you'll find an Electronic Student Handbook in your rooms, complete with the list of rules, student profiles, and Mono-Cal files for trials!" He said, realizing what he'd let slip just a second too late. Terezi bounced a bit, looking excited. "I get it!" she exclaimed, causing the other students to turn around and look at her. "You don't just have to kill someone, do you? That'd be too easy, too obvious. No, you have to commit the perfect crime to get out of here, don't you? You said trials. Trials are my area of expertise; I know how this sick game of yours is going to work. We're all suspects, and we're all members of the jury, aren't we? It's not enough just to kill. You have to kill and get away with it!" Terezi explained.

Mono-Cal grinned maniacally. "You're smart! This is going to be more work that I thought… You are correct though, Terezi. Trials are held after a brief investigation period allowed after a murder occurs. If you convict the right person, the criminal is executed! But of course, if you convict the wrong person...Well, I'll just execute you all instead!" Mono-Cal said. The students began furiously whispering to each other, with suspicion and mistrust. When they looked back at the gym podium, Cal was gone.

And thus, Karkat's High School experience began, not with Hope, but filled with Despair!

They sat around in the gym for hours, searching for some sort of way out. Equius punched the steel panels with all his might, but it seemed to be impossible. "Don't worry! We'll find a way out of here." John insisted, sounding unconvincingly hopeful. "Keep going!" he said. Vriska whorled around to face him. "Hey! Who the hell do you think you are, tryin' to be our boss! Do you think you're in charge or something!?" she demanded, getting up in his face. Before John had time to answer properly, a cold, metal fist collided with his face.

He woke up in a bed, blinking to get the stars out of his vision. "Where am I?" he muttered, looking around the room. Dave stepped out of the corner and into his line of vision. "We're in your room." He replied. John jumped slightly, startled by Dave's sudden-seeming appearance. "We each get our own room." He explained. John took the chance to look around, taking in the blue wallpaper, and desk with a sword on display. "I had Equius carry you here. The others split up to find clues, but I was worried, man." He continued. John smiled, blushing slightly at him. "Alright, that's enough rest for now!" said John, getting out of the bed. "Take me to the others." He told Dave, who gave a single brisk nod. Then, the blonde led John to the dining room.

That night, they all gathered in the dining room to discuss the situation. Karkat, being the most experienced in this kind of thing, quickly took lead in the meeting. "I think we should make some rules." he said, glaring at them, as if challenging them to disagree. They all nodded and murmured in agreement. "First of all, the Electronic Notebooks say that 'night time' starts at 10:00, and I think that to decrease the chance of anything insane going down, we should prohibit leaving our rooms at nighttime. Who agrees?" he said. Terezi raised her hand, along with John, Dave, Rose, Jade, and Kanaya. Tavros looked as though he wanted to agree, but Vriska's glare kept him from taking action. "Oh, c'mon people! Are you fucking stupid? Do you _want _to get murdered?!" he demanded. Reluctantly, the rest of the group raised their hands, a bit nervously. Dave and Rose exchanged looks. Karkat was talking as if a murder was definitely going to happen.

The next day, they all looked for an exit, and the day after that. There was nothing in sight, although they did find a blocked off staircase, and confirmed that there was no way out. They also discovered a fridge full of food that, according to Mono-Cal, is restocked daily. On the third day, Mono-Cal showed his face again. "This is getting boring!" the puppet complained. "Why aren't you guys-oh!" he exclaimed, coming to a realization mid-sentence. "I know what's missing now! We have the place, the weapon, the characters, everything! But you're missing a motive!" he said, eyes lighting up excitedly. Karkat and John exchanged looks. They did _not_ like where this was headed. Mono-Cal began to speak again. "Well, on that note, I've left you something in the AV room. Enjoy!" and with that, he disappeared, leaving the children with no choice but to go see what the AV room had in store for them all.

Karkat nervously approached the computer, examining the DVD in his hand. It read "Karkat Vantas's DVD" in sharpie marker.

Karkat inserted the DVD into the slot in the computer, placing the headphones over his ears. He was shocked to see his father and older brother Kankri on the screen. He couldn't help but smile, and roll his eyes fondly as Kankri began to talk on screen, lecturing him about being kind to others and all that shit. Karkat was just about to shut it off when the screen changed suddenly, depicting his family living room in a state of decay and chaos, as if all those who lived there had died a long time ago. Karkat felt something cold slide down to his stomach; a fist gripped his heart, squeezing it as he slid to the floor, trying not to cry. He looked around, and saw the rest of the students were in a similar state. Terezi's video contained only audio, but she still looked as if she'd witnessed a murder. Not a good analogy considering she worked homicide cases in her free time, but still. Equius was punching the wall, looking like he was about to cry, while Nepeta clung to his leg like a small child. Aradia was in the corner, crying quietly. "I can't take it any more!" the medium cried, trying to bury herself further in the corner. Karkat walked over to her, grabbing both her shoulders. "Alright bitch, listen up. It's my duty, as your motherfucking leader, to get you out of here, and I swear to God I _will _get you out of here. No matter what happens. Capiche?" Karkat said. Aradia looked up nodding. "Ok." She said, face devoid of emotion. "Whatever it takes."

That night, Aradia came into Karkat's room, just before nighttime. "What's wrong Aradia?" he asked, a bit annoyed to have his new room invaded. Her eyes were wide with fear, and something unreadable. "Karkat, there's something outside my room." she said, trembling. Karkat got up, and lead Aradia to the bed. "Are you sure?" he asked skeptically. She nodded solemnly. "I keep hearing some sort of banging on the door, but when I look out in the hall, I don't see anyone. What if there's someone trying to kill me?" She said. Her voice was nothing but a frightened whisper. Karkat's eyes widened. Aradia sounded really scared. He sighed. "Well why don't you sleep in here for the night. In the morning we can check and see what the fuck is up, 'kay?" he said. Aradia contemplated his proposal. "I wouldn't want you to have to make room for me in here. Perhaps we could switch rooms, just for tonight?" she suggested. Karkat nodded. "Ok. But, just FYI, the door to my bathroom is broken, you have to turn the nob and lift it up to get it to open." He told her. She gave him a small smile, and Karkat left the room, closing the door behind him.

The next day, Karkat woke up confused. Where was he? As he stood up, the memories came flooding back to him. He was at Hope's Peak. The events of last night began to slowly trickle back into his mind. He was in Aradia's room, he realized. Oh, fuck. Aradia!

Karkat rushed down the hall, back to his room to check on her. He rang the doorbell, before realizing that the door was already open. He poked his head inside, not seeing her. "Aradia?" he said cautiously, hoping she wasn't changing or something. There was no reply. Karkat went over to the bathroom, banging loudly on the door. Nothing. Finally, he just kicked the damn thing open, too worried to fumble with the broken handle. What he saw made want to kneel over right there and puke his fucking guts out. Aradia was dead.


End file.
